The Mansion (Revised Edition)

3

No. It couldn’t be. Pinkie couldn’t be dead. She and I just became friends, and she was the only one who trusted me in this terrible place. She was the only one that keeps me sane.

“Ah’ said come out real slow now with yer’ hooves up.”

I raised my hoof slowly. “W-What’s in there?”

“Pardon?” She hiccuped. “Oh, you mean this here bag.” Applejack carelessly tossed the sack in the center of the room. It fell to the floor and a tangled mess of bubble gum pink hair protruded from the mouth of the sack.

“No! She can’t be - no, not her.” I ran over to the remains, careful not to look into the depths of the bag and collapsed in front Applejack. “Tell me that this is all some sick joke.”

“Git’ off me.” She bucked me off and hiccuped again. “That pink mare, Pinkie Pie was it? She ain’t coming back from those wounds. She’s all butchered up like a sow in there.”

She continued to ramble, and her breath smelled strongly of hard cider and liquor.

I still didn’t want to believe that my only friend was gone. “You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying. You’re lying.”

She rustled through her saddlepack and brought out a brown glass bottle. “I don’t tell no lies and I ain’t a drunk.” She swayed side-to-side, taking swigs from the bottle. “Don’t compare mares like you to somepony like me.”

“You’re lying. You’re ly-”

She finished off the bottle and began talking to the air. “Ah’ don’t lie. And ah’ could care less with the pink nitwit dead. She’s always making a ruckus and all those loud noises while I’m jus’ trying to have a drink.”

“How can you drink at a time like this? She was innocent, and she was killed so-”. The bloody visions flashed in front of my eyes. I saw her mane dripping wet with her own lifeblood and her organs floating in the hole in her chest like a red slurry. I shook those thoughts away. “Never mind that. What about Rainbow Dash? Aren’t you looking after her?”

“That mare? That room that Flittershy told me to put er’ in was the bar! Can you believe her?”

No. Don’t tell me that she...

“So I bucked that Rainbow mare out as soon as it was quiet and had a hell’a party in there. Oh they had liquor imported from Las Pegasus and-”

“You let her out? I don’t give a flying feather about your jack.” I stomped my hoof down. “Ponies are dying and it’s all your fault!”

The pieces of the mystery began to fall together. Rainbow Dash could have escaped and killed the other two. Or it could have been Fluttershy - she definitely could have killed Pinkie after mysteriously disappearing.

“Don’t ya’ int’rrupt me when ah’m talking now. I am a fine mare and ah’ expec’ to be treated with the utmost respect.”

“Get away from me.” I tried to duck under her arm, but she slammed it against the doorframe.

“Move your arm, now!”

She completely ignored me. “Oh, well you’re a pretty mare, aren’t you?” She brushed her hooves through my hair.

I instinctively stepped away from her. “Stay away from me!” I saw her toned muscles twitch and I began to fear what she could do with her brute strength. She was an applebucker by profession after all. Hoof by hoof, I stepped away from her until I hit the corner.

She walked closer and her eyes were focused somewhere below my eyes. To her sides were the traps, impossible to maneuver around, and I was trapped against the wall. She grabbed me by my mane and licked my neck. “You your hoof at a mare before?”

“No, stop it!”

“Ah’ never tried my hoof at sweet fillies like you before,” she dragged her rough tongue to my horn, “but ah’ always wanted to try pluckin' cherries.”

She suckled the tip of my horn and waves of pleasure began to take control of me. I closed my eyes and I felt her lips wrapping around the base of my horn. I tried to remain silent, but when she began to spin her tongue in circles, moans involuntarily escaped my mouth. I didn’t want to enjoy this at all, but my body yearned for more stimulation. She kicked my legs and I fell down to the floor with a thud. When I faced upwards, I saw Applejack’s devilish smile in the dim light.

“Please don’t do this, I don’t wa-”

She smashed the bottle against the wall and held the broken neck against my face. “Ah’m not giving you a choice, sugarcube.”

“Y-You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.” She pressed the sharp edge against my neck and I felt my coat tear slightly.

I covered my eyes with my hooves and prepared for the worst. Her warm breath skimmed down until it stopped between my thighs. She teased my marehood with the tip of her tongue before entering it deep inside me. She lapped up my wetness, filling the room with the sound of her mouth slapping against me. I began to pant faster and squealed in a high-pitch voice.

Then she stopped. “Ready to have some real fun now?”

“No, stop!”

She didn’t listen. Her hoof touched the opening of my marehood and slid inwards, twisting as it dug deep into me.

The pain was unbearable. I attempted to jerk myself free, but doing so only excited her even more. I felt my marehood tear immediately at the first stroke, but the pain only intensified with the subsequent stabs. When I managed to raise my head in pain, I looked down at my marehood to see a trickle of blood pooled into a small puddle below me.

“Yee-haw!” She hollered, pleasuring herself with me.

Pain soon became a dark pleasure and I no longer resisted her sultry temptation. My eyes rolled upwards and my tongue hung loosely from my drooling mouth as I grunted in tandem with her beat.

“Stop!” I yelled out. I noticed now that the light in the room was no longer dim. Behind her, the overturned lantern had spread its flames across the dry floor, igniting everything around it. I tried to lift myself up on all fours, but she swung her weapon at me.

“We’re not finished just yet.” Applejack was too intoxicated to understand the danger we were in. She continued to pleasure herself with my body, oblivious to the flames that were licking the tips of our tails.

“Applejack, the fire. Look, at the fire! Just look at - oh - ohh.” My body stiffened as an amazing swell of bliss pulsed from my marehood.

“Do you know why ah’ drink, Twilight?” Her voice cracked. “It’s just that ever since I was a lil’ filly all I’ve known was work. Ever since mamma an’ pappy died, there has just been so much work to do on the farm.”

“I-I...” I didn’t know what to say. For once, I sincerely felt sympathy for the mare.

“I’m always so alone, and there’s just too much work to do. I’ve missed out so much in life. Although ah’ don’t want to admit it, ah’ wished ah’ had some friends to help me. Every night, under the stars after a hard day, ah’ always wonder what life would have been like if ah’ just... ah’ just...”. She cried on my shoulder

“You don’t have to be alone, Applejack. I can help you, we can get through this together. I can be your friend.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight, but this cider is the only friend for me.” Her grimace sent a chill down my back. “I’ve done too much. No, I can’t let anypony know what I’ve done here.”

The flames now incinerated most of the supports, causing the whole room to collapse. The floor tilted sharply and we slid down. Below us was a fiery pit of sharp flaming splinters. Applejack and I both hung balancing for our lives on a single strand of twine from the sack of Pinkie’s remains. However, the mass could not support two ponies. I could feel myself dropping as the sack slowly slipped on blood.

Applejack, finally seemingly to be sobered up, stared into the fire in horror. The flames now devoured everything in sight and we were encased in a sea of flames. Scorched ashes floated about, and we choked on the dense black smoke.

“We have to climb!” I yelled, barely able to be heard over the roaring blaze. “Grab that-”

I was stopped when I felt a sharp pain from my flank. I began to lose my grip on the rope as I began slipping. I glanced at my flank where the cracked bottle lay embedded deep in my skin. I felt the blood drip out from the wound and heard it sizzle as it reached the flames.

“Git down!” She bucked the bottle, driving it another inch into my flesh.

I screamed and lost control of my forelegs and I fell down into the pit facing the ceiling. I turned myself in midair to see the flames only a foot away from my eyes. Time seemed to stop at that moment. I remembered every moment in my life, from birth to marehood. In all those hours I’ve spent with a book in hoof, other ponies learned about a magic which I’ve never really understood: friendship. I’ve never valued friendship before, but it was now that I truly understood just how powerful it could be. Friendship was something that can completely turn a mare’s life around. I just wondered how different my life would have been. But, this was going to be the end.

Then out of the walls of the inferno shot a rainbow which caught me on the chest. The rainbow, and the mare leading in front of it, circled around the room. We passed by Applejack in time to see her engulfed into the flames as she held onto the scorched end of the rope. I was lifted up with great speed and we rocketed through into the story above.

We ricocheted off the roof of the next floor and slid onto the carpet of the empty room. The sprinklers then activated, ending the conflagration below. The cold pure water dripped into my wounds, somewhat relieving the burning pain over my body.

On the opposite end of the room was Rainbow Dash, panting and cowering away from me. “A-Are you alright?” She asked.

I would have answered her if it weren’t for the banging pain in my head. From the dying flames, I managed to catch a glimpse of her magenta eyes clouded in fear and shame. I crawled towards her, but stopped when the shattered bits of the bottle grinded inside my wound. I rolled on the floor in pain, crying as it intensified. But through my tears, I saw her blue hooves approach me.

I felt her tear whatever was lodged from my side away. Again, I was on the verge of fainting again as I felt the blood drain profusely.

“Stay with me, Twilight,” she yelled as she pressed on the wound.

I felt her press harder to keep me alive for a little longer. I didn’t know whether I would live or not. There are some thing that aren’t written in books, and the loyalty of a friend is one of them. I smiled, for the first time in years, because I knew that somepony cared for me. I breathed heavily as the pain made me delusional. Then, everything became unbearably cold from both water and death, and my body became numb. Exhausted, my eyes were heavy with sleep as I lay vulnerably under the rainbow maned mare’s wings.

“No! I said stay with me!”

The pain began to fade away and my breaths became weaker. I saw her face in tears; she was crying for me. Before blacking out, I thanked Celestia for the angel who had come to save me.

I woke to find myself in the dark void where a violet light emanated from around my body. Other than myself, there was nothing but darkness to be seen. However, when I peered far out in the distance, I saw miniature multi-colored lights like stars on a moonless night. As they came closer I could see that they were jewels. The nearest ones to me glowed pink, yellow, orange, blue, and white. I stared in awe at their beauty as they spun around me like planets in orbit. That was until the lights began to disappear. They exploded, leaving trails behind them like fireworks which eventually evaporated. One by one, the lights faded away to nothingness. Soon, I found myself alone again in the dark.

Then a radiant white light exploded above me, blinding my eyes. It was so intense that it threatened to burn me alive. Even with my forelegs covering my face, the brilliance shone through my body brighter than the sun. I, too, was rubbed away from existence as the light dominated all.

I opened my eyes to face the light, but I woke to Rainbow Dash’s eyes.

“You’re awake.” She wrapped her hooves around me.

I didn’t know what to think. Was that vision only a dream? But it was surreal enough that I could have mistaken it for reality.

“You’ve been out for nearly a day.” She cried on my shoulder. “I thought that I was too late.”

“A day?” I touched the spot where Applejack had stabbed me. It was now crudely wrapped in a makeshift bandage, and I cringed as I pressed against it. It could feel that it was a deep wound, healable with only strong magic.

“Rainbow. Why did you save me?”

She released me. “I saw what she did to you.” She faced the floor, unable to look directly at my eyes. “It was a terrible thing, and I just couldn’t let you die after that.”

I knew that she wasn’t telling me the whole truth. I remembered that guilty face when she rescued me from the flames. I stared at her intently, wondering if there was a hidden reason as to why she had spared my life.

She quivered. “You reminded me of when I was a little filly. Some stallions who I thought were my only friends took advantage of me. It was horrible, humiliating, and painful. I was scarred both physically and emotionally.”

“Rainbow...”

“That day changed me. And ever since that day, I promised myself that I wouldn’t let anypony be hurt like that anymore.”

I began to understand who this mare was and the painful life she was forced to live in.

“Ever since that day, I’ve always been afraid to trust anypony. I was hurting on the inside, more than anypony could understand. I was angry and scared, but I knew that nopony was there for me. I was always alone. I didn’t want you to be alone either. I don’t want anypony to feel like that.”

“You’re strong, Rainbow.”

“But, I wonder what type of pony I could have become if I had just one friend to understand me.” I saw a tear drop from her eye. “Maybe I could have been a good pony like you, Twilight. I was always jealous of all those ‘good’ ponies, because they all had such wonderful friends. You must have good friends, right? All I remember of Ponyville was always flying solo, because that’s the only life I’ve known.”

“But you don’t have to. I’m sure that other ponies would listen if you told them. I’m listening to you, Rainbow, I am.”

She sighed. “Whenever I try to make friends, those memories come to haunt me and I always end up hurting them with my anger. It’s terrible to suffer, but even worse when I hurt the ones I love. You would never hurt anypony, I know you wouldn’t. And I was so wrong to accuse you like that when we first met. Could you ever forgive me.”

“You are a good pony, Rainbow.” I smiled at her, and she smiled back. “And I would love to be your friend.” I held out my hoof.

With tears in her eyes, she grabbed my hooves with both legs. “Thank you, Twilight.”

Blood trickled down from her snout. I looked down in horror at the rusted metal rod that split through her chest. She slowly looked down and touched the tip in disbelief, then looked back at me with dilated eyes. She hacked blood, spilling the deep red liquid over her coat, and fell over where she stopped moving.

“Rainbow!”

“Oh how sweet.” I stared past where Rainbow stood, and from the darkness a pink maned demon fluttered into the light. “But only weak Fluttershy would have felt sorry for killing her.”

I rushed to Rainbow. Her hooves were already cold as stone. “It’s alright, Rainbow. You’re fine, you’re fine!”

“F-Friend?” She smiled at me weakly.

“Yes, Rainbow, I’m your friend and I’m going to make sure you’re alright.”

She slowly tilted her head back and ceased to breathe.

“Stay with me! You’re alright! Stay with me!”

I held onto her lifeless body and cried over it. I shouted at her to open her eyes, but I knew that she was no longer with me. I was her only friend, and it was my responsibility to care for her - yet I was powerless as she died in my hooves. I placed her body down and saw that she was at rest with a smile on her face.

“Oh boo-hoo,” she said mockingly, “it looks like she wasn’t the killer; the door hasn’t budged one bit. But it doesn’t matter because the world is a better place without freaks like her.”

“Freak? Don’t call her that.”

“Freak! Freak! Freak!”

“You’re the sick one that’s killing everypony!”

“I wouldn’t be talking,” she bolted to my face and poked my snout, “miss killer.”

“Me? There’s only two of us, and you have to be the killer. You just have to.”

“Rainbow Dash is the only one I’ve had the pleasure of killing. Pushover Fluttershy would have believed you. But she’s dead. Just like kind Fluttershy and caring Fluttershy. And just like you will be.”

“This isn’t you Fluttershy. Snap out of it!”

I saw her eyes were filled with rage and pure hatred. I knew that I had to return her to her senses, but the fear and deaths permanently corrupted her psyche beyond repair. She retrieved the sharpened weapon from Rainbow’s corpse and stabbed at my chest.

I barely dodged her strike, evading by only a hair’s width. I heard the rod strike the floorboard behind me as she screamed out in fury.

She struck at me again, this time grazing my cheek. I stumbled over my hooves and fell through a hole, dropping down several feet.

From above, Fluttershy whispered in a twisted singsong voice: “You can run, and you can hide! But Fluttershy won’t rest until you’ve died!”